The past decade has seen a tremendous growth in the use of the world-wide web for online purchases of products and services. Such products are available via web sites provided by e-commerce merchants, such as electronic retailers. Typically, an e-commerce web site is built around a set of web pages that collectively comprise an “merchant.” The web pages generally include an electronic catalog of product offered by the merchant (along with prices), and a product selection scheme that often corresponds to a “shopping cart model.” Toward the end of a shopping “experience” the customer is presented with one or more pages corresponding to a “check out” or purchase transaction process. At this time, the customer usually is asked to enter payment information, such as a credit card number and billing address. In some instances, all or part of this information may have been stored during a previous visit and is recalled based on user identification, e.g., through a login process. After the payment information is entered, the customer is able to finalize the transaction via a confirmation action, such as activating a “confirm purchase” button displayed on a corresponding web page.
In most instances, the only payment mechanism offered by e-commerce merchants for retail customers is via credit cards. There are many reasons for this, including increasing the likelihood of receiving payment for the goods, fraud protection, and accounting simplicity. However, credit card payments do not come without a cost. On the merchant side, a transaction fee is subtracted by the credit card operator (e.g., bank) that typically includes a base amount plus a second amount based on a percentage of the overall purchase price (e.g., 1.5-2%). This leads to significant costs for larger merchants. From the consumer's perspective, there are also many drawbacks pertaining to credit card payments. Many consumers are weary about entering credit card information on-line, and thus may not make purchases from e-commerce merchants. Furthermore, many consumers prefer not to use credit cards for purchases, or do not have any credit cards to begin with. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide an alternative payment mechanism for both e-commerce merchants and consumers. Ideally, such an alternative payment mechanism should be easy to implement using existing network infrastructure.